Auto News and Information

Ford Executive Chairman Bill Ford draws paycheck again

Bill Ford, second from right, has unfrozen salary to think of now. (Photo Credit: CC BY/GeeJo/Wikipedia)

The automotive bailout may have prevented the “too big to fail” companies from imploding financially, but that doesn’t mean that their financials are on Easy Street. The Ford Motor Company did better than most automakers, but not without Executive Chairman Bill Ford imposing a five-year pay freeze upon himself beginning in 2005. The moratorium was to have remained in place until Ford Motors’ automotive operations returned more consistent profits. Now the board at Ford has voted to lift the pay freeze, reports Automotive News. That includes deferred salary compensation for Bill Ford dating back to 2008.

Bill Ford received $4.2 million in deferred salary

The Ford Motor Company board of directors voted to begin giving Bill Ford deferred salary after the company enjoyed a $4.8 billion automotive profit in the past year. Bill Ford will begin receiving $4.2 million in deferred salary from 2008 onward. The compensation will include options (some of which are currently exercisable) and restricted stock.

Bill Ford was CEO of Ford from 2001 to 2006

In 2006, Alan Mulally took over as CEO of the Ford Motor Company as Bill Ford moved to the board of directors. Both Ford and Mulally have agreed to 30 percent personal salary cuts for 2009 and 2010 as a part of the automaker’s economic recovery. Bill Ford sold personal holdings in company stock for a $1 million scholarship fund he created in 2005 for the children of company employees.

In addition, Bill Ford jettisoned approximately $28 million in company stock and options purchased in 2004 and 2005. Bill Ford’s stock sales did not affect the Ford family’s overall holdings of “Class B voting shares,” which according to Automotive News give the family “a 40 percent voting interest in the company.” In total, Bill Ford holds approximately 6.5 million common and Class B shares in the Ford Motor Company.